Website accessibility is required for all government websites including their contractors' websites.  Cole Robison, Director of Information Technology (IT) Accessibility sent out this invitation for some free training on the State of Kansas' Accessibility Management Platform (AMP) software which is used to check website accessibility.  If you work for state or work for an organization that contracts with the State of Kansas, please consider signing up for this free training.  

Greetings everyone,

Level Access, the provider of AMP, has scheduled a free webinar for Kansas state agency personnel! (AMP, the Accessibility Management Platform, is the web accessibility assessment tool made available by Office of Information Technology Services (OITS.))
October 12th, 2022, 1:00–2:30pm, online

The overview training will cover:
AMP Basics
• AMP Key Concepts
• Best Practices
• Access Academy Quick Start Guide

Testing With AMP
• What is an AMP Test?
• Creating an AMP Test
• Running a Test On-Demand

Reviewing AMP Reports
• AMP Reporting
• Compliance Score FAQ
• Report Modules
• Report Violations Instances

Using Access Assistant Browser Extension
• Capturing Modules with Access Assistant
• Creating Assets & Reports
• Recording a Macro

Regular evaluation with AMP is a key component of our critical, ongoing efforts to improve the accessibility of all of our websites and web applications, so whether you’re new to AMP or would just like a refresher on how to get the most out of it, we hope you’ll take this opportunity to become more familiar with this essential tool.

Register here

Please feel free to forward this to interested colleagues. If you have any questions please contact Cole Robison @ (785) 291-3016 or [email protected].

U.S. Access Board Releases Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan

The U.S. Access Board remains committed to its work in advancing and embedding diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in its workforce. This week, the Board released its DEIA Strategic Plan that establishes goals, objectives, and actions to foster a workplace that exemplifies teamwork, embraces innovation, and values DEIA to achieve mission excellence.

“This plan will ensure we continue to sustain and improve our workplace and workforce so that we can accomplish our mission,” Board Executive Director Sachin Pavithran remarked. “We aim to continue to be a model for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as we advance accessible design throughout all of society.”

The plan includes a focus on culture, career, communication, and consistency to continue a work environment of opportunity, encouragement, transparency, and skill development. The Board will use these goals to maintain and increase DEIA in its workplace, optimize outreach efforts in furthering a high-performing DEIA workforce, and enhance training and policies for its operations.

The Great Plains ADA Center sent out the August issue of The ADA Report today, but it isn't available on line yet.  I found the July issue is online so you can look at that one until I find a link for the August issue.  

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be inadvertently discriminatory against a variety of people including people with disabilities.  Before saying, "yes" to having a computerized program review your applications and applicants to speed up the process of deciding who to interview, check to see what the program checks in determining who will and won't be interviewed.  Often they are written with the programmers' assumptions and biases about what you are looking for that may not be accurate or legal.  This could be interesting introduction to AI.  ~Martha

EEOC AND OFCCP TO HOST ROUNDTABLE
"DECODED: CAN TECHNOLOGY ADVANCE EQUITABLE RECRUITING AND HIRING?"
Save the Date: Tuesday, September 13, 1:00 - 2:30 pm EDT

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) will co-host a roundtable on the civil rights implications of the use of automated technology systems, including artificial intelligence, in recruitment and hiring for jobs. This roundtable will be held as part of the agencies’ joint HIRE initiative and the EEOC’s AI and Algorithmic Fairness initiative. 

Experts will discuss how employers and vendors can promote equity, explore potential barriers to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), and identify promising practices for employers and job recruiters when they engage in the use of automated technology systems in recruitment and hiring. Promising practices will focus on the use of automated technology systems to identify potential new hires (source) and to screen whether individuals can proceed to the next stage of the hiring process (screen).

Further details on how to attend the event will be forthcoming.